Life and Mines

Scientific discovery activity

The Mines et vie (Mines and life) scientific workshop (in French) is a 75 minute educational activity designed by Comité sectoriel de main-d’œuvre de l’industrie des mines (CSMO Mines) in collaboration with Boite à science and Institut national des mines du Québec (INMQ). The workshop points the way for students interested in pursuing post-secondary education in a discipline related to mining. Scientific facilitators from Réseau Technoscience and its regional partners conduct the workshops. Incidentally, this activity is completely free!

The presentation also reveals the workings of the mining cycle and suggests two experiments students can conduct in teams. Accompanied by a facilitator, students will be transported through the air and deep below the Earth. They will learn about the mining industry’s key occupations, put scientific principles into practice, and handle instruments unique to the industry.

1. La géophysique, une science en or (Geophysics, a golden science)

In the initial experiment, teams will set out to discover new mineral deposits. They will have to work diligently to determine their discovery’s true potential. This experiment focuses on electromagnetism concepts.

2. Comme chien et chaux (Chemistry sleuths)

For the second experiment, your students will try their hand at water treatment. They will have to adjust the pH of acidic mine drainage (AMD) water and agglomerate the minerals to create a slurry. This experiment focuses primarily on chemical concepts.

Download this document for a summary of the workshop and each experiment :

Topics :

  • Geophysics
  • Magnetic and conductive materials
  • Acidic mine drainage
  • Precipitation of dissolved metals

Here are some of the scientific topics covered in the two experiments: concentration, pH, precipitation, neutralization, solubility, electrolytic dissolution, magnetism, electromagnetism, solenoids, electrical conductivity, the environment and exploitation of natural resources, minerals and reactive soils (oxidation and neutralization).

There are additional educational tools available to teachers organizing a Mines et vie workshop for their class, i.e., a preparation sheet and a review sheet—the latter to design activities that put the students’ learning to use. You can order educational and/or promotional tools or download them from the Educational tools subsection.

Target clientele

This activity is primarily for students in Secondary 4 and 5. However, Secondary 3 teachers can also take advantage of this workshop, depending on the availability of Conseil du loisir scientifique (CLS) in their region since CLS has access to a set number of workshops for its clients.

Want to arrange a Mines et vie workshop for your class?

To book a Mines et vie scientific workshop, visit the website of the organization responsible for presenting the workshop in your region. For help, see the list of regions below that are covered for the current school year. You can also contact CSMO Mines directly by phone at 418-653-9254 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We will direct you to the individual handling workshop reservations in your region.

Regions covered

Regions covered for the 2016–2017 school year:

Useful information

Audrey Saint-Pierre
Project Manager - Logistics and Communications
CSMO Mines
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
418 653-9254, ext. 225

Réseau Technoscience
technoscience.ca

Educational material

Here are some helpful documents:

 

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technoscience.ca